5 Army chiefs have P1.6B unliquidated advances
AIE BALAGTAS SEE, GMANews.TV
09/24/2008 | 05:37 PM
(Updated 1:37 a.m. Sept. 25) MANILA, Philippines - Five Army chiefs have accumulated P1.6 billion in unliquidated cash advances over the past five years.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo said the unaccounted for cash advances started during the term of retired Lt. Gen. Efren Abu to the term of Gen. Alexander Yano, the current chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Ocampo, a former spokesman of the National Democratic Front (NDF), used as basis for his his statement the annual reports of the Commission on Audit (COA) from 2003 to 2007.
In an interview with GMANews.TV, Ocampo said they he will raise the matter during the budget hearings to find out how the funds were spent.
“We'll have to raise this in the budget hearings… COA said there is a need to liquidate cash advances otherwise they will not know how the money was spent," the party-list lawmaker said in Filipino.
Citing the COA annual audit reports from 2003 to 2007, Ocampo said the unliquidated cash advances were P997.4 million in 2003 under Abu; P103.5 million in 2004 under Gen. Generoso Senga; P69.8 million in 2005 under Gen. Hermogenes Esperon; P90 million in 2006 under Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino; and P335.6 million last year under Yano.
Abu is now special envoy to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asian Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA); while Senga has been appointed as the country’s ambassador to Iran.
Esperon, meanwhile, is President Arroyo’s peace adviser while Tolentino has been recently appointed as president and CEO of PNOC-Alternative Fuels Corp.
"I don’t know the nature of these cash advances, I’ll have to check with them, but they may be travel expenses. Our financial system will have to liquidate those," Esperon told GMANews.TV's media partner BusinessWorld.
Ocampo said these unliquidated cash advances range from the inappropriate use of the money and the non-distribution of combat clothing and individual equipment (CIIE) in some of the Army’s largest divisions.
The militant solon also disclosed that in 2007, non-distribution of CIIE were reported in 5th and 7th infantry divisions amounting to P5.7 million. Overpayments were also made to Cafgu active auxiliaries – P1.9 million in 5th, 7th and 8th Infantry Divisions – and double entries of same personnel or similar serial numbers, in the amount of P2.5 million, in the 6th Infantry division.
“This may be only the tip of the iceberg of AFP corruption," Ocampo said, adding that he will gather more information and documents to support the study of COA. - GMANews.TV
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo said the unaccounted for cash advances started during the term of retired Lt. Gen. Efren Abu to the term of Gen. Alexander Yano, the current chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Ocampo, a former spokesman of the National Democratic Front (NDF), used as basis for his his statement the annual reports of the Commission on Audit (COA) from 2003 to 2007.
In an interview with GMANews.TV, Ocampo said they he will raise the matter during the budget hearings to find out how the funds were spent.
“We'll have to raise this in the budget hearings… COA said there is a need to liquidate cash advances otherwise they will not know how the money was spent," the party-list lawmaker said in Filipino.
Citing the COA annual audit reports from 2003 to 2007, Ocampo said the unliquidated cash advances were P997.4 million in 2003 under Abu; P103.5 million in 2004 under Gen. Generoso Senga; P69.8 million in 2005 under Gen. Hermogenes Esperon; P90 million in 2006 under Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino; and P335.6 million last year under Yano.
Abu is now special envoy to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asian Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA); while Senga has been appointed as the country’s ambassador to Iran.
Esperon, meanwhile, is President Arroyo’s peace adviser while Tolentino has been recently appointed as president and CEO of PNOC-Alternative Fuels Corp.
"I don’t know the nature of these cash advances, I’ll have to check with them, but they may be travel expenses. Our financial system will have to liquidate those," Esperon told GMANews.TV's media partner BusinessWorld.
Ocampo said these unliquidated cash advances range from the inappropriate use of the money and the non-distribution of combat clothing and individual equipment (CIIE) in some of the Army’s largest divisions.
The militant solon also disclosed that in 2007, non-distribution of CIIE were reported in 5th and 7th infantry divisions amounting to P5.7 million. Overpayments were also made to Cafgu active auxiliaries – P1.9 million in 5th, 7th and 8th Infantry Divisions – and double entries of same personnel or similar serial numbers, in the amount of P2.5 million, in the 6th Infantry division.
“This may be only the tip of the iceberg of AFP corruption," Ocampo said, adding that he will gather more information and documents to support the study of COA. - GMANews.TV
